Apparently there was so much outcry over the negative article printed a couple of days ago by the wall Street Journal, that a different voice was allowed to speak. A very different viewpoint, and one I personally applaud.
Again, thanks to Banned Books Week’s newspage for keeping the public up to date on these happenings.
PS–take the poll about darkness in YA lit–you’ll be interested in the results.
These are the books that the 14-year-olds in my neighborhood like the most. You will notice that none of the books listed have these dark themes. Who is deciding what is appropriate for kids? Adults or kids? When kids chose themselves, they are not necessarily wanting to read those dark, violent books. You will notice a lot of Middle Grade books on their list. YA is really skewing older and the growth in this genre is due to adults not 12-14 year old kids. There is something wrong with this categorization of books as it does not reflect the actual readership as defined by YALSA.
http://www.pragmaticmom.com/?p=1781